Dreaming of an Organized Linen Closet

My posting might be little spotty this week as I prepare for my sons Halloween party and get our house all party cleaning did I mention i'm under the weather?  Other than planning the party, an organized linen closet has been on my mind. Our linen closet ( really linen shelves) as small. Which you think it would make it easier to keep clean. Not! I'm dreaming of talcking the super small spot soon. I love the linen closet below, small & tidy. I love how every inch of this small space is organized. 

{ via Martha Stewart }


I love the idea of adding labels on the shelves to help keep linens organized when they are put away.

{ via Martha Stewart }

I bought large wicker baskets for our linen closet a long time ago, which are perfect for storage, but lately there just junk bins. I'm going to see if I can make them work in the space, or they may end up moved into the coat closet. Hopefully I'll get started on this little project on Sunday, looking forward to an organized after. 

Is your linen closet also crying out for a organizational makeover? What do you to keep your linen closet nice & tidy?

Open Dining Room Storage

I've been thinking a lot about our dining room storage. In our dining room we have a simple white buffet that I refinished late last year. In our buffet I store numerous items: cake stands, platters, champagne glasses, wine glasses and desert plates. While I like that everything is tucked away, I really like open storage in a dining room. I guess its me inner Martha, liking dinnerware to be all pretty, but beyond the pretty is the ease of access to the dinner & glassware. Here's a reminder our how our current buffet looks, although it works fine for our needs. I would like to find a table that's a little longer which = more storage room.

For inspiration, I began my buffet table search at Pottery Barn by checking out their console tables aka sofa tables. I really like console tables that have a drawer and at least two shelves on bottom. I think two shelves would be esstenial in our dining room. On the top shelf I would keep wine bottles and wine glasses / champagne glasses. Since we have limited counter space in our kitchen, having wine bottles in the dining room would free up valuable space. On the bottom shelf I would have cake stands, cook books and vases. I really like the two console tables from Pottery Barn both classic looking { just the wrong color }

Although larger than want I want in our dining room, I love the look of this open storage.

{ via Apartment Therapy }

As you know I love projects and nothing beats finding a great deal, so I've been stalking Craigslist and trolling thrift stores in hopes of finding the perfect console table for our dining room. If I come across a credenza, that would also be a good thing, it would we longer and most likely have a middle door with shelves. I would remove the door and keep wine bottles inside there. Oh the possibilities! Now just need to find the right piece for our dining room on the cheap.

So what to do think about Open Storage vs. Closed storage in a dining room? What kind of storage does your dining room have? And why do I keep adding projects to my to do list.

Organized, Yet Lived in Living Room

I call our living room our everything room; we entertain, watch endless movies { thanks to our Roku } read and play the Wii. Our living room plays so many roles in our household because our home has no separate family room. Which is pretty common in smaller 1950's ranch homes. Since our living room plays so many roles, it has to stay organized. Everything in our living room has a place.
 

We recently added another Ikea Expedit to our living room, which has increased our storage and help keeps our books, DVDs, magazines and decor items organized. We have two large Ikea Kasset boxes which hold our DVDs. I recently went though all our DVDs to pair down our growing DVD collection, we have a ton to sale in an upcoming yard sale.

 I also keep a small stash of recently watched DVDs in our entertainment center in DVD boxes. For the record, Mr CLH bought the movie Reno 911! He claims it was only $5 bucks, whatever.

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I have a serious magazine hording addiction { some people hoard animals, I hoard magazines } to keep my magazine love under control, I have a magazines stashed in a basket in in our book shelf, when my paperweight is popping up way too high. I go though my magazines and purge.

I also keep a few magazines in an empty plant container in our new expedit. Keeping my magazines only in the living room helps keep them from winding up all over the place. In the wicker basket we keep my sons Wii games and items organized. Again having a designated place for items helps keep our living room organized & makes cleaning up much easier.

 In the banana leaf wicker ottoman I picked up at Target a while back I stash extra decor items inside (vases, candles etc.) I also keep extra blankets inside. Easy blanket access for upcoming breezy fall nights, this also helps save space in our linen closet. I also like the the wicker ottoman adds another layer of texture in our room & provides undercover storage.

I also like the the wicker ottoman adds another layer of texture in our room & provides undercover storage.

I like how our living room has evolved over time, it feels comfortable and modern and fits our families needs perfectly. I'm so glad we added the another bookcase to our living room, big thanks to everyone for giving me their opinion about adding another bookshelf to our living room. Here are  few more pictures of our lived in living room.

View from seating on the sofa.

As I said its our everything room, nothings better than watching a movie on the sofa while your son is playing next to you.

How do you keep your living room organized & does you home have both a living room and family room? If so which one do you use most?